Portland State University Athletics

LUBBOCK, Texas — Defense travels to any gym. The Portland State volleyball team proved that Thursday, opening the Red Raider Classic with a pair of wins over Prairie View A&M, 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 24-26, 25-21), and UTRGV, 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-17), at Texas Tech's United Supermarkets Arena.
 
The Vikings (4-4) held both teams to under .100 hitting. Prairie View A&M (0-7) hit just .070 against the Vikings. That was a season low for a PSU opponent until the Vikings held UTRGV (2-5) to .059 hitting just a few hours later.
 
The Vikings' play at the net held the Panthers in check in the first match. The Vikings recorded a season-high 13.0 blocks against Prairie View, with Willow Watson leading the way behind a career-high eight individually. The afternoon match against the Vaqueros was a team defensive effort. The Vikings held them below .100 hitting in all three sets, while they only had nine kills in the first two sets.
 
"This is where our depth helped us immensely, playing two matches in the day. Getting a lot of quality touches on the block and creating great swings in transition. When we manage our errors, we are putting ourselves in a position to win," Seemann said at the end of the day.
 
Match #1, Portland State 3, Prairie View A&M 1
The Vikings utilized their depth from the start of Thursday's matches. Fourteen of the team's 18 players saw the floor against Prairie View A&M.
 
The hottest part of the floor for the Vikings was the right side. Watson and Katarina Kosic tied for the match high with 12 kills each from the right, hitting .292 and .421, respectively.
 
Seven of Kosic's 12 kills came in the opening set when she led the Vikings to a 25-23 opening-set victory. She wasn't any less effective in the second set but wasn't nearly as needed as while she was 2-for-2, the Vikings outhit the Panthers .308-to-.071 in the set.
 
The Vikings jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second set and led comfortably the rest of the way. Alivia Eikenberg led the Vikings with four of her 11 kills in the second frame.
 
A late comeback from the Panthers in the third set extended it to a fourth. They led 9-7 in the fourth before the Vikings took control again with an 8-1 run that gave them the lead for good. Watson had two kills and a block during the run, part of three kills on five swings for her in the set.
 
Behind Watson at the net, Katie Brewer set a career high with six blocks despite only playing the last three sets. Brewer added five kills on .273 hitting. Fellow middle blocker Brenna Coffman had six kills out of the middle while adding four blocks.
 
Jessica Truong led all players with 20 digs to go with three assists and two aces.
 
Ava Blascziek led the Vikings in assists (32) and aces (3) while adding five digs. Fellow setter Elisabeth Levick set a season high with 16 assists.
 
Match #2, Portland State 3, UTRGV 0
You wouldn't have guessed from the final score that the Vikings were the team that had just played in the match before. They swept UTRGV – which lost 3-1 to host Texas Tech in the first match of the day – winning every set before the Vaqueros reached the 20s.
 
Kosic shined again from the right side, recording a team-high 11 kills on .647 hitting. Ashley Repetti followed with seven kills on .400 hitting, while Watson added six kills on .333 hitting from the other spot on the right.
 
The Viking offense found its groove in the second match of the day. They hit over .300 in every set while finishing at .346 for the match. It was the Vikings' second match hitting over .300 out of their last three, after they set a season high with a .360 hitting percentage in a 3-0 sweep of Murray State last Saturday.
 
The Vikings hit .417 in the opening set, recording only two attack errors as six different players recorded a kill for the Vikings.
 
The second set was tied at 18-all before the Vikings closed with a 7-1 run to take a 2-0 lead. Kosic and Brewer both had two kills during the run, with Brewer's second closing it out.
 
The Vikings separated themselves late in the third set again. They won nine of the last 12 points to close it out, ending with an ace from Blascziek. The finishing ace was one of five for Blascziek in the match, setting a new career high for her.
 
The Vikings will close out the Red Raider Classic Friday against host Texas Tech. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. CT.
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